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Global warming led to dwarfism in mammals — twice

By Guest PostNovember 6, 2013Environment, Scienceabigail dambrosia, carbon dioxide, climate change, diacodexis, dwarfism in mammals, early horse hyracotherium, early horses, eocene thermal maximum, etm2, future global warming, geological past, global warming, greenhouse gases, heat trapping, human caused, hyperthermals, hyracotherium, jaw fossils, modern day horse, paleocene eocene, paleontologist, petm, philip gingerich, primate cantius, thermal maximum, university of michigan, will clyde

ANN ARBOR — Mammal body size decreased significantly during at least two ancient global warming events. A new finding that suggests a similar outcome is possible in response to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan paleontologist and his colleagues.

Researchers have known for years that mammals such as primates and the groups that include horses and deer became much smaller during a period of warming, called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), about 55 million years ago. (more…)

Ancient Whale Skulls and Directional Hearing: A Twisted Tale

By Guest PostAugust 25, 2011Nature, Scienceaaron wood, archaeocetes, asymmetric skulls, baleen whales, basilosaurus isis, biological sonar, ct scans, echolocation, fossil, julia fahlke, modern whale, mysticetes, national science foundation, nsf, odontocetes, paleontologist, philip gingerich, richard lane, robert welsh, signs of artificial deformation, skewed skulls, symmetrical skulls, terrestrial mammals, three dimensional digital model, three dimensional torsion, toothed whales, twist, university of michigan

*Skewed skulls may have helped early whales find direction of sounds in water*

Skewed skulls may have helped early whales find the direction of sounds in water and are not solely, as previously thought, a later adaptation related to echolocation.

Scientists affiliated with the University of Michigan and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) report the finding in a paper published online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Colossal Fossil: Museum’s New Whale Skeleton Represents Decades of Research

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2010Nature, Scienceamy harris, anthropology, basilosaurus isis, basilosaurus skeleton, egyptian desert, evolution, extinct whale, fossil, fossil whales, fossilized basilosaurus vertebra, museum, natural history, philip gingerich, sea, sediment, skeleton, the evolution of whales, unesco world heritage site, valley of the whales, wadi hitan, william sanders

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—There’s a whale of a new display at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History, a leviathan that represents a scientific saga of equally grand proportions.

A complete, 50-foot-long skeleton of the extinct whale Basilosaurus isis, which lived 37 million years ago, now is suspended from the ceiling of the museum’s second floor gallery and will reign over an updated whale evolution exhibit scheduled to open in April 2011. (more…)

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Global warming led to dwarfism in mammals — twice

Ancient Whale Skulls and Directional Hearing: A Twisted Tale

Colossal Fossil: Museum’s New Whale Skeleton Represents Decades of Research